During World War II, 120,000 American citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry were placed in internment camps by the federal government. The Heart Mountain Relocation Center was located in Wyoming and at its peak accommodated more than 10,000 Japanese Americans.Forrest Emmanuel LaViolette, a sociologist from at the University of Washington from 1936 to 1940, conducted research on the Japanese Americans interned at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. The photographs in this collection were taken by Dr. Forrest E. Laviolette when he was a member of the center staff from April 1, 1943 to April 1, 1943. There are five additional photographs taken in British Columbia, Canada.